No.  87. 

A  WORD  OF  WARNING  FOR  THE  SICK 
SOLDIER. 


It  is  bad  to  be  sick,  worse  to  be  sinful,  and  worst  of  all  to 
be  impenitent.  Sin  is  a  disease,  a  moral  disease,  a  disease 
of  the  inner  man.  What  sickness  is  to  the  body,  sin  is  to 
the  soul.  1 1  is  the  worst  of  all  maladies,  more  loathsome 
than  the  leprosy,  more  painful  than  the  gout,  more  stupify- 
ing  than  paralysis,  more  maddening  than  fever,  more  fatal 
than  consumption1,  and  more  dreadful  than  all  these  com- 
bined. Other  diseases  are  arrested  by  the  tomb  ;  but  sin 
kills  beyond  the  tomb — destroys  both  soul  and  body  in  hell. 
Matt.  10,  28. 

You,  my  friend,  are  infected  with  this  fearful  malady. 
You  inherited  it  from  your  parents.  You  were  shapen  in 
iniquity,  and  in  sin  did  your  mother  conceive  you.  Psa.  57, 
5.  You  belong  to  a  degenerate,  corrupt  race,  to  a  world 
lying  in  sin.  Eph.  Z,  1  ;  1  John,  5,  19.  The  symptoms  of 
your  moral  disease  are  numerous  and  unmistakable.  Pro- 
fanity, drunkenness,,  lewdness,  dishonesty^  lying,  murder, 
and  such  vices,  are  clear  signs  that  the  disease,  not  only 
exists,  but  is  raging.  But  there  are  other  marks  of  it  equal- 
ly potent  and  decisive.  The  Word  of  Gad  is  the  spiritual 
food  which  he  has  furnished  for  the  nourishment  and  growth 
of  his  children.  1  Peter,  2,  2.  '  A  lack  of  appetite  for  this 
food  is  an  alarming  symptom  of  moral  disorder.    Not  tQ  der 


aire  the  "sincere  milk  of  the  word,"  betokens  a  heart  es- 
tranged from  God,  and  a  taste  vitiated  by  sin.  Prayer  is 
the  healthful  breathing  of  a  child  of  God.  If  it  is  neglected 
or  performed  in  a  heartless,  formal  manner,  the  proof  of  a 
serious  moral  disease  is  unquestionable.  The  prayerless 
soul  is  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins.  As  a  general  emacia- 
tion and  feebleness  of  the  body  are  certain  symptoms  of  its 
disease,  so  a'  habitual  neglect  of  religious  privileges  and 
duties  furnish  positive  evidence  of  an  unhealthy  and  perilous 
condition  of  the  soul.  And  now,  my  friend,  examine  your- 
self, deal  faithfully  with  your  soul.  Do  you  not  find  in  your 
conduct,  words,  inclinations,  and  thoughts,  proofs  of  your 
moral  disease  ?  Does  not  conscience  testify  that  you  are 
estranged  from  God,  enslaved  by  ycur  lusts,  and  degraded 
by  your  evil  habits?  I  may  apply  to  you  the  words  of  the 
prophet,  in  a  sense  different  from  that  in  which  he  used 
them,  "The  whole  head  is  sick  ;  and  the  whole  heart  faint. 
From  the  sole- of  the  foot  even  unto  the  head  there  is  no 
soundness  in  it ;  but  wounds,  and  bruises,  and  putrifying 
sores:  they  have  not  been  closed,  neither  bound  up,  neither 
mollified  with  ointment."  A  conviction  that  you  are  dis- 
eased is  indispensable  to  your  healing.  "  They  that  be 
whole  need  not  a  physician,  but  they  that  are  sick."  As 
only  the  man  that  is  conscious  of  his  disease,  consults. a 
medical  adviser,  so  only  they  that  are  convinced  of  their 
sinfulness,  guilt  and  danger,  seek  the  aid  of  the  Physician 
of  souls.  I  ask  again,  my  friend,  are  you  not  diseased  ? 
Are  you  prepared  for  death,  judgment  and  eternity?  Do 
you  not,  impenitent  man,  bear  plain  marks  of  a  moral  mal- 
ady— the  fearful  tokens  of  a  coming  perdition  ? 

God  has  employed  appropriate  means  for  the  cure  of  your 
moral  sickness.  It  may  be  that  you  were  nursed  in  the  lap 
of  piety ;  even  taught  in  your  infancy  to  lisp  the  name  of 
Jesus,  and  to  seek  his  mercy,  were  brought  up  in  the.  nur- 
ture and  admonition  of  the  Lord  ;  and  were  led  to  the  fami- 
ly altar,  morning  and  evening,  to  present  to  God  your  sac- 
rifices of  prayer  and  praise.  To  you  every  successive  sab- 
bath brought  its  sacred  associations  aud  its  precious  privi- 


leges.  In  the  Sunday  School  you  were  (aught  to  read  the 
Scriptures,  and  its  life-giving  doctrine  was  instilled  into 
your  susceptible  minds.  Or,  if  you  were  not  so  highly  fa- 
vored in  jour  childhood,  you  have,  at  least,  enjoyed  many 
opportunities  of  hearing  the  gospel  preached,  and  of  seeing 
its  happy  effects  on  those  who  embrace  it.  Your  christian- 
(riends  have  cherished  a  tender  concern  for  your  salvation, 
have  prayed  for  you,  and  have  warned  "you  of  your  danger, 
and  urged  you  to  flee  to  Christ,  with  all  the  fervor  of  love, 
arid  all  the  eloquence  of  tears.  God's  providential  dealings 
have  concurred  With  the  ministrations  of  His  gospel  in 
pressing  you  to  attend  to  your  salvation.  "The  riches  of 
His  goodness,  and  torbearanee  and  long  s-ufTering,"  were 
designed,  as  they  were  adapted,  to  lead  you  to  repentance  ; 
and  his  judgments  were  sent  to  warn,  arouse  and  save  you. 
Rom.  2,' 4;  Isa.  26,  9. 

All  the  means  that  God  has  employed  for  your  conversion 
have  proved  unavailing.  You  may  have  been,  in  some  de- 
gree, convinced  of  the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  of  its  trans- 
cendent importance;  may  have  been  impressed  with  your 
danger  and  with  your  need  of  mercy ;  may  have  been 
almost  persuaded  to  be  a  christian  ;  and  may,  like  Herod 
when  he  heard  John  the  Baptist,  have  done  "many  things," 
(Mark,  6,  20);  but  still  you  are  impenitent,  and  enslaved  by 
sin.  Your  goodness,  like  the  morning  cloud  or  the  early 
de,w  has  passed  away,  leaving  you  more  insensible,  and 
more  firmly  set  in  your  course  of  folly  and  sin,  than  you 
were  before.  Your  good  resolutions  and  solemn  vows  have 
been  broken,  and  are  either  forgotten,  or  are  remembered 
with  shame.  It  is  of  the  Lord's  mercy  that  you  have  not 
been  consumed.  There  are  many,  no  doubt,  this  moment 
in  perdition  less  corrupt  and  guilty  than  you  are. 

But  God,  my  friend,  has  not  yet  given  you  up.  He  still 
waits  to  be  gracious,  still  employs  means  for  your  conver- 
sion. "Affliction  cometh  not  forth  of  the  dust,  neither  doth 
trouble  spring  out  of  the  ground/'  but  sent  of  God,  always 
in  wisdom,  and  frequently  in  mercy.  God  has  brought  this 
sickness  upon  you.     Far  from  home,   and  home    comforts, 


and  dear  kindred,  and  sanctuary  privileges,  which  once  you 
prized  so  lightly,  among  strangers,  and  surrounded  with 
the  sick  and  dying,  you  are  now  tortured  with  disease,  and 
•  loomed  to  pass  wearisome  and  anxious  days  and  nights. 
!t  is  a  sore  trial,  and  deeply  do  I  sympathize  with  you  in  it. 
But  this  sickness,  I  trust,  is  not  unto  death,  but  for  the 
dory  of  God.  It  is  a  pause  in  your  career  of  though  tful- 
nes's,  dissipation  and  vice.  God  is  calling  you  anew  to  re- 
pentance and  salvation.  It  is  a  great  pity  that  you  did  not 
attend  to  the  interests  of  your  soul  while  you  enjoyed  health 
md  rengious  opportunities.  It  is  a  great  mercy  that  God 
did  not  call  you  to  judgment  while  your  heart  was  cheering 
you  in  the  days  of  your  youth,  and  you  were  walking  in  the 
ways  of  your  heart,  and  in  the  sight  of  your  eyes.  Ec'cl.  11, 
9.  It  is  a  great  mercy  that  you  may  on  your  sick  couch, 
tmd  in  your  feebleness,  and  amid  the  groans  and  eonfusion 
of  a  hospital,  obtain  salvation.  The  Scriptures  record  one 
instance  of  late  conversion,  that  no  sinner  need  to  despair 
of  salvation  ;  and  they  record  butone,  that  no  sinner  should 
[(resume  to  defer  his  repentance.  The  dying  thief  stands 
as  a  solitary  trophy  of  grace,  in  the  inspired  history  of  the 
church,  a  plea  alike  against  despair  and  against  presump- 
tion. Sickness  is  not  without  its  religious  advantages.  It? 
lulls  the  storm  of  passion,  bridles  the  unholy  lusts,  suspends  (JJ J 
the  course  of  sin,  strips  the  world  of  its  delusive  charms,  QD 
a  ffords  time  for  reflection,  quickens  the  benumbed  consciene,  QC 
gives  glimpses  of  a  coming  eternity,  and  a  righteous  judg- 
ment, and  teaches  the  necessity  of  divine  mercy.  Many 
have  attributed  their  conversion,  through  grace,  to  sickness. 
In  health  and  prosperity,  they  were  gay,  thoughtless,  stout- 
hearted, and  far  from  righteousness;  but  on  the  bed  of 
'angor  and  pain,  they  considered  their  ways,  and  turned  to 
God. 

What  will  be  the  effect  of  this  sickness  on  you,  my  friend, 
remains  to  be  seen.  You  may  slight  this  kind  warning  as 
you  have  the  twice  ten  thousand  mercies,  of  your  past  life. 
You  may  grow  harder  and  more  determined  in  sin,  in  pro- 
portion as   God  employs   meaus  for   your  salvation.     This 


affliction,  suited  to  quicken  you  to  reflection,  and  lead  you 
to  the  cross,  may  be-- perverted  to  the  increase  of  your  cor- 
ruption and  guilt.  This  bodily  suffering  that  you  endure 
may  be  but  the  precursor  of  the  pangs  of  "  the  eternal 
death."  But  I  hope  better  things  of  you  though  1  tli'us 
write.  Calling  to  remembrance  your  neglected  privileges, 
your  broken  vows,  and  your  multiplied  sins,  considering 
the  value  and  peril  of  your  soul,  and  your  brief  and  uncer- 
tain day  of  grace,  you  will,  it  is  to  Jbe  hoped,  pay  instant, 
earnest,  attention  to  the. business  of  salvation. 

It  you  would  be  a  Christian,  the  first  requisite  is  decision 
of  purpose.  Whatever  else  you  may  have,  you  cannot  be 
saved  without  this.  Indecision  is  one  of  the  greatest  bar- 
riers to  the  salvation  of  sinners.  Many  are  convinced  that 
it  is  their  duty  and  interest  to  be  Christians,  and  make  fit- 
ful, feeble  efforts  to  follow  their  conviction  ;  but,  lacking  a 
deep  and  settled  purpose,  they  fall  short  of  the  prize.  If, 
my  friend,  you  would  be  saved,  your  mind  must  be  fully 
made  up,  at  any  sacrifice,  and  through  any  difficulty  and 
peril,  to  secure  thegreat  deliverance.  An  object  so  glorious 
may  well  challenge  all  the  resolution,'  firmness  and  energy 
of  which  you  are  susceptible. 

"  What  if  the  gospel  bid  you  strive, 
With  flesh,  and  sense,  and  sin.? 

The  prize  is  most  divinely  bright 
That  you  are  called  to  win." 

You  cannot  succeed  in  any  difficult  earthly  enterprise 
without  a  firm  purpose;  but  "mountains  are  levelled  and 
gulfs  are  bridged,  by  this  invincible  spirit.  If  this  disposi- 
tion is  needful  in  secular,  much  more  in  religious  pursuits. 
He  that  would  enter  in  at  the  sti*ait  or  difficult  gate  must 
strive  or  agonize.  Lukexiii,  24.  "No  man  having  put  hie 
hand  to  the  plough,  and  looking  back  is  fit  for  the 
kingdom  of  God.  Luke,  ix,  62.  I  would  entreat  you  then 
by  the  value  of  jspur  soul,  by  the  love  of  Christ,  by  the 
bloody  sacrifice  of  the  cross,  and  by  the  solemnities  of  judg- 


raent  and  of  eternity,  to  make  up  your  mind,  byGod'shelp, 
that  you  will  become  a  Christian,  or  die  in  the  attempt- 
But  be  sure,  my  friend,  that  you  do  not  stop  short' of  the 
cross.  There  is  neither  help  nor  hope  for  any  sinner  but  in 
the  cross.  Whatever  you  may  do,  or  suffer,  or  purpose,  all 
will  be  unavailing,  and  worse  than  unavailing,  if  you  do 
not  come  to  Christ.  Neither  tears,  prayers,  vows,  alms, 
penances,  profession,  nor  martyrdom,  nor  all  these  com- 
bined, can  save  a  soul.  "  None  but  Jesus  can  do  helpless 
sinners  good;"  and  he  can  do  them  good.  His  blood  can 
cleanse  them  from  sin,  his  love  can  cheer  them,  his  wisdom 
can  guide  them,  his  power  can  support  them  under  every 
burden,  and  his  grace  can  crown  them  with  glory.  "It 
hath  pleased  the  Father  that  in  Him  all  fullness  should 
dwell."  A  bleeging,  dying  Christ  is  the  only  comfort  of  a 
sin-stricken  world.  But  in  order  that  you  may  share  in  the 
benefits  that  Christ  bestows,  you  must  receive  Him  as  your 
Prophet,  Priest  and  King.  Faith,  which  is  equivalent  to 
coming  to  Christ  or  receiving  him,  is  the  condition  on  which 
God  bestows  eternal  life,  and  all  the  blessings  requisite  to 
its  enjoyment,  on  sinners.  "Jesus  said  Unto  the  Jews,  I 
am  the  bread  of  life :  he  that  cometh  to  me  shall  never 
hunger;  and  he  that  believeth  on  me  shall  never  thirst.'7 
John,  vi,  35. 

Do  you,  ray  friend,  fear  to  commit  your  soul  to  the  hands 
of  Jesus?  I  am  not  surprised  that  you  should  be  ready  to 
despair  of  salvation.  When  you  consider  with  how  high  a 
hand  you  h,ave  sinned  against  God,  through  how  many 
years  you  have  persisted  in  your  rebellion,  under  what  ag- 
gravating circumstances  you  have  maintained  the.unnatural 
conflict,  and  the  fatal  influence  of  your  example  upon  your 
fellow  beings,  it  is  not  strange  that  your  guilt  should  seem 
to  transcend  the  efficacy  of  the  Kedeemer's  blood,  and  the 
riches  of  His  forgiving  grace.  When  we  contemplate  God 
as  a  hply,  just  and  sin-avenging  Judge,  terror  not  hope 
fills  our  minds,  punishment  not  pardon  is  what  we  expect. 
He  is  not  only  a  just  God  but  a  Saviour;  and  you,  pollu- 
ted, guilty,  miserable  sinner,  need  not  despair  of  salvation. 


7 

Your  guilt  is  great,  greater  than  you  have  ever  conceived: 
but  it  does  not  exceed  the  cleansing  power  of  Christ's  blood. 
Your  soul  is  triple  dyed  in  sin,  but  the  blood  of  Christ  can 
wash  out  its  deepest  stains.  The  words  of  the  Apostle  John 
are  fraught  with  everlasting  consolation  and  encoui'agenient 
to  sin-burdened  and  desponding  souls,  "The  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ,  God's  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin."  Christ  is  not 
only  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  them  that  come  unto 
God  by  Him,  but  he  is  ready  to  receive  the  coming  sinner, 
without  delay,  and  without  upbraiding.  "  All  that  the 
Father  giveth  me,"  he  says,  •'  shall  come  to  me  ;  and  him 
that  cometh  unto  me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out.  John  vi,  37. 

It  only  remains  that  I  should  urge  you,  my  sick  friend, 
to  come  to  Jesus.  Suppose  your  sickness  should  prove  fa- 
tal. I  trust  it  will  not,  but  it  may.  At  any  rate  the  day 
cannot  be  very  re:note  when  disease,  or  old  age,  or  some 
casualty  will  bring  you  to  your  end.  And  what  a  fearful 
thing  it  is  to  die  without  the  hope  of  the  gospel.  You  would 
better  never  have  been  born,  or  been  born  in  a  heathen  land, 
or  born  a  beast,  than  to  live  and  die  in  sin.  You  are  not 
prepared  for  death,  and  you  know  it.  You  would  not  die 
in  your  present  state  for  ten  thousand  worlds  ;  and  yet  you 
are  pursuing  a  course,  which,  if  you  persist  in  it,  must  ter- 
minate in  an  eternity  of  bitter  regrets,  unutterable  woe,  un- 
availing lamentations,  and  black  despair.  Is  it  wise,  is  it 
not  madnesss  in  the  extreme,  to  hazard  your  eternal  well- 
being  on  the  chance  of  your  recovery  from  sickness  ? 

Suppose  your  sickness,  as  I  hope  maybe  the  case,  should 
not  end  in  dea^h,  but  that  your  health  should  be  restored, 
and  long  years  of  prosperity  should  be  allotted  to  you  ! 
For  this  exemption  from  death  you  will  be  indebted  to  the 
forflearance  and  tender  mercy  of  God.  And  will  you,  dare 
you,  requite  the  divine  goodness  with  the  base  ingratitude 
of  perverting  it  into  a  motive  for  continuing  in  sin  ?  Perish 
the  the  thought!  If  this  sickness  should  be  the  means  ol 
your  conversion,  you  will  have  cause  of  eternal  gratitude 
to  God.  You  will  number  this  affliction,  though  now  so 
bitter  and  so  depressing,  among  the  most  cherished  bless- 


ings  of  your  life.  The  gloomy  hospital,  the  wearisome 
couch,  the  loneliness  of  your  condition,  and,  it  may  be, 
this  little  tract,  associated  with  your  reflection,  penitence, 
prayer  and  hope,  will  be  classed  with  your  most  precious 
memorials.  You  will  come  forth  from  your  affliction,  with 
renewed  vigor  and  fresh  hope,  better  fitted  to  bear  the  ills, 
fulffllthe  responsibilities,  and  eu joy  the  blessings  of  life. 
You  will  be  a  better  soldier,  more  patient  under  discipline 
in  the  camp,  and  more  courageous  amid  the  dangers  of  the 
battle  field.  When  the  war  closes,  if  Grod  should  preserve 
your  life,  you-  will  return  to  your  home  to  be  a  blessing  to 
your  family,  an  ornament  to  society,  and  a  pillar  in  .  the 
church  of  God.  Blessings  will  attend  you  through  all  the 
joui"ney  of  life.  Useful  labors  will  fill  up  the  measure  of 
your  days,  and  peace  will  be  the  nightly  pillow  for  your 
head.  You  will  finish  your  course  with  joy,  have  an  abun- 
dant entrance  ministered  you  into  the  everlasting  kingdom 
of  the  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  and  receive  the 
crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous 
Judge,  shall  give  you  in  that-day.  May  God  grant  you  Ihi- 
mercy  for  Jesus  Christ's  sake.     Amen. 


